NOT THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
by eggplant1
Summary: This is how I would write the first chapter of a certain book you may have heard of.
1. Default Chapter

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NOT THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX 

_CHAPTER 1_

THE WARRIOR 

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As Hagrid said, what would come, would come… and he would have to meet it when it did. Yes, it was foolish to worry about it now, very good advice no doubt about it, Harry just wished he knew how to follow it. As he sat on the enormous back seat of the car on his way to Privet Drive he noticed that Uncle Vernon had been talking to him, probably for some time and doubtless cataloging Harry's many faults, but he hadn't been paying attention. After all he'd been through paying attention to any of the noises Uncle Vernon made with his mouth seemed too insignificant to bother with, there was no point wasting valuable brain cells on that, he had far more important things to think about. The truth was he no longer cared very much what any of the Dursleys said or did. Although his mind seemed clearer than it ever had before this brought him no joy, he was weary of relieving all the pain and ugliness and death he'd seen in stark relief. But he knew he should make an effort to think about something else at least for a while, just to see if he was still capable of it. For the first time he became fully aware of his surroundings.

"Hey, nice car" Harry said. 

"That school of yours must have made you simple" Uncle Vernon said with fury "Haven't you been listening? I just told you it's a brand new custom supercharged Bentley with a Rootes type positive displacement blower to produce 513 horsepower and no turbo lag. They only make ten of these beauties a year and it's just about the most expensive car in the world. It cost more than the likes of you will make in a lifetime I can tell you that, so sit still and don't kick anything. And none of that,.. that funny stuff of yours!"

"Pretty fancy for a company car, a Bentley" Harry said.

"It's my own personal car" said Uncle Vernon proudly "and if you must know I've retired from the company".

Harry thought for a moment as he looked at the mahogany dashboard with teak inlay and the ostrich skin seat covers, then things suddenly became clear.

"Congratulations" Harry said "You must have a terrific pension plan to retire so young, and with such style. Most wizards don't know much about pensions or muggle money, for example if a muggle were to say how much it cost to raise a child, a wizard would probably believe him, even if the figure was 10 times or 20 times too high."

"Is.. is that so" said Uncle Vernon.

"Yes" said Harry, "of course not all wizards are like that, I have a friend in The Department of Muggle Frauds and Swindles who's very good at audits"

"Audits? ?" said Uncle Vernon trying, unsuccessfully, to sound casual "They know about those sort of things do they". 

"Oh sure" said Harry cheerfully "whenever they get a report of something suspicious they go to work, they love to send people to Azkaban, that's the wizard prison. Interesting place that, it's guarded by dementors, you know I see weird magical stuff every day but those things still give me the creeps, but you may be made of sterner stuff. I've heard stories that would make your hair curl, My godfather could tell you more, he's the only person to have ever escaped from there, if I asked him I'm sure he'd be willing to give you some pointers. Who knows, you might find them useful someday."

"What are deme.." But Uncle Vernon stopped, he wasn't sure he was really ready to hear the answer to that. He tried again "What are you insinuating?" 

Harry smiled pleasantly and said "Just making conversation"

"Right" said Uncle Vernon trying to sound confident "Well there will be a lot less conversation and a lot more rules and a lot more work this year. I have a list of the chores you will perform every day, scrub the kitchen, wash the windows, weed the garden, cut the grass, wash the car, mop the "

"No, I won't be doing any of those things" Harry said quietly but firmly, he wasn't trying to be defiant, he was simply stating a fact "It's important for me to do a lot of studying this summer and I can't be distracted with trivialities."

"Trivialities! You'll do what I tell you to do or I'll kick you and that stupid owl of yours out of my house!" Vernon bellowed.

"Oh I doubt you'll do that" Harry said calmly.

"And why is that?"

"Because you don't want to get off the gravy train. Give it up Vernon, I found out the truth, I know the Ministry Of Magic has been paying you to take care of me since I was one year old, grossly overpaying in fact. Nice little scam."

"I, I don't know what you're talking about"

"Well" said Harry "If you really don't know what I'm talking about then prove it, stop the car and I'll get out right here. Perhaps you're tired of getting the ministry's money but I'm sure there are others willing to take up the burden. By the way, have you made all the payments on the Bentley yet? What's the maintenance and insurance costs on this monster?"

Vernon turned purple and looked like he was about to explode, but he did not stop the car "They promised me! They said you would never find out! I demand to know who told you!"

"Why you told me Vernon, just now, I thank you for confirming my suspicions." Said Harry with a smile "And now I'd like to talk about some rules of my own."

===== 

Harry sat down and picked up a quill, his diminutive model of the horntail was marching along the edge of the desk, occasionally a tiny spark came from her mouth . This letter was going to be tricky, he didn't want to panic her nor did he want her to think he was trying to run her life, but he had to tell her of his concerns because he didn't think he could retain his sanity if anything happened to Hermione. Best to start with some chitchat. 

Dear Hermione

I hope you're well, I'm fine, in some ways better than fine, for the first time in my life I feel like I'm fully awake. Yes I know that sounds dumb. Anyway this first week back has been going really great for me. On the car trip from the station I pulled a sort of bluff on Uncle Vernon and it worked better than I dreamed, they try hard to stay out of my way now and I don't think they've spoken a dozen words to me since. That's just the way I like it, a good Dursley is one you can't see or hear. I'll never beat Ron at chess but I think I could hold my own at poker. 

Harry stopped for a minute to considered what he had written. He had told the truth, just not the entire truth. No point in telling Hermione about the nightmares he thought, she can't do anything about them. He didn't know that his feint was only part of the reason the Dursley's avoided him, Harry didn't realize that he unnerved them with the profoundly powerful stare he had newly developed, a stare that almost seemed to give off sparks. Life lived at Harry's intensity was alien and freighting to many. He picked up his quill and continued.

Would you believe I've already finished my homework? I've decided to really concentrate on studying because I have a hunch I'll run into Voldemort again someday and I need to be much better prepared. It's relaxing too, when you're focused on trying to master a difficult spell you sort of forget your troubles. I've found a nice stealth spell to prevent the ministry from detecting the unauthorized use of magic, I can only make it big enough to cover my bedroom but that's big enough for me to practice without interference. I've learned to apparate, at least I can do it from one side of the room to the other, they say distance only makes it slightly harder, I hope that's true. These new fifth year book are a bit disappointing don't you think, most of the stuff seems pretty obvious. Dumbledore said I should read a few seventh year books this summer and they are a lot better but still not quite what I'd hoped for. By the way I know a really nifty invigorate charm that's like drinking 10 cups of black coffee and it really cuts down on the time wasted sleeping.

The horntail had wandered onto his parchment and was getting in the way of his quill, he gently pushed her back to the edge of the desk. Yea it was a good charm but Harry wished he could find one that eliminated sleep entirely, 3 hours a night is long enough for horrible memories to resurface. Ok, stop stalling it's time to get to business. He wished he didn't have to write the next part but he knew he had to, he thought again of that incredibly gruesome book he'd seem in the forbidden section of the school library, the one that showed the agonizing deaths of people Voldemort particularly didn't like. Harry shuttered. He doubted the Dark Lord hated any of those people as much as he hated him, especially now that he'd embarrassed Tom Riddle Junior by escaping from right under his nose and looking like a fool in front of his Death Eaters. Junior probably has something very creative in mind for me Harry thought, and physical pain would not be enough for that sadist, he'd want to scar me emotionally too. The method was obvious. He picked up the quill again.

I hope you're still not planing to visit Victor Krum in Romania because I think that could be very dangerous. Now that Voldemort is back I worry that he may try to punish me by hurting my friends. I think Krum is a good man but I don't like the idea of you being in a foreign country that I know little about except that it's full of graduates from Durmstrang taught by Karkaroff. I worry about Ron too but at least he's in a house full of friendly witches and wizards, I'd be really happy if there was one more witch there, you. You're the smartest person I ever met so I know you won't do anything stupid whatever you decide, but promise me one thing anyway, be careful, because if you were to go and get yourself killed it would ruin my entire day.

Harry

====

Cho looked beautiful in her formal robes as Harry danced with her at the Yule Ball.

"You dance wonderfully" she said as she stared at him adoringly.

"Thanks" said Harry grinning from ear to ear "I was a little nervous at first yet I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, but you dance much better than I do".

"I love to dance" Cho said "that's why I'm so glad you murdered Cedric, he couldn't dance at all".

"WHAT!" Harry screamed in horror "NO! I DIDN'T! I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS A PORT KEY!"

Cho started to laugh, a high cold mirthless laugh, and it was Voldemort standing before him not Cho and those weren't other dancers surrounding him, they were Death Eaters. Harry pulled out his wand pointed it at Voldemort and yelled "Avada Kedavra" but it was Cedric who received the curse, and died before he hit the floor, a look of surprise on his lifeless face. Harry dropped his wand and fell to his knees crying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry". The Death Eaters bowed to Harry and chanted "All hail to Harry Potter, all hail the new Dark Lord"

NOOOOOOOOO!

Harry sat up in bed drenched in cold sweat his heart beating like a jackhammer. "I am not a dark wizard" Harry cried into the empty room "Cedric I .." but he could not say more. When he finally got his voice back he just muttered "stupid dream" and got up. This was the worse one yet he thought as he splashed cold water on his face from the basin, he wondered if he'd have them until the day he died, and he wondered how soon that day would come. He put on his glasses and looked at his watch, it was 2:45 am. Harry glanced at the face in the mirror and was appalled, he was starting to look like Sirius did when he was in Azkaban. This is foolish Harry thought, I've got to take better care of myself, when was the last time I ate? Let's see, I did have breakfast, but that must have been yesterday morning, or maybe it was the day before. He touched his cheek and felt stubble, I guess I'm going have to start shaving too. He still wasn't hungry but he had just decided to go down to the kitchen and eat something anyway when a owl carrying a package and a letter flew into his room. She seemed quite proud of herself for delivering such a heavy bundle by herself. 

"Hedwig!" Harry yelled with delight "It's good to see you girl".

He thought she might show up tonight so he had some bacon ready for her that she quickly devoured. He opened the letter and saw it was from Hermione.

Dear Harry

You have to be careful with those invigorating charms, they're not good for you if used too often. I hope you're getting plenty of sleep as you could use some rest after all you've been through last year.

Don't worry I won't ruin your entire day because I'm at the Burrow, I decided to accept Ron's invitation instead of Victor's. I hope you can join us as soon as Dumbledore says it's ok. In the meantime don't work too hard and try to have a little fun, you deserve it.

A wave of relief swept over Harry, Hermione was safe, and the idea of visiting his two best friends at the Burrow was wonderful as he was starting to feel quite lonely. Imagine Hermione telling him not to work too hard. Harry smiled. Ginny would be there too Harry realized and his grin increased. He read on.

The package is your birthday present, I know it's a bit early but as soon as I found out it existed I knew you had to have it immediately. 

Intrigued Harry opened the package and saw that it was a large red book, on the cover it said "Advanced Charms And Transfiguration Theory With Examples" in smaller print under that it said "with a introduction by Albus Dumbledore" then Harry looked at the authors and his jaw dropped "Lilly and James Potter". With trembling hands he opened the book as if it were more fragile than glass and more valuable than gold, he looked at the dedication page, all it said was "To Our Son Harry". It took a moment for his eyes to clear enough to read the rest of Hermione's letter. 

Professor McGonagall says the book was published less than a month before your mom and dad died, she said it's the best book on transfiguration she ever read and Professor Flitwick says the same thing about charms. Harry your parents must have been very very powerful wizards to write a book like that. I tried to read parts of it but it's way beyond me, maybe in a few years. Hope to see you soon.

Love from Hermione 

Harry was still standing and did not move for several minutes while a thousand thoughts ran through his mind each demanding his full attention. When he got control of himself again he read Dumbledore's introduction.

Lilly and James Potter were two of the best students I ever had so I always expected great things from them, but even so I was stunned by the sheer brilliance of their first book which is I believe the most important treatise on magic published this century. The depth of their explanation of magical theory is unrivaled by any other work I am aware of. Nor is their originality limited to pure theory, this volume contains dozens of powerful spells the likes of which I have never seen before. The chapter on Animagi is certain to become a classic in the field but it is the astounding chapter on charms without wands that opens up an entire new branch of sorcery that has never been touched on before. This is not light reading, it can be quite demanding even for a talented wizard but those who make the effort will be well rewarded. 

Albus Dumbledore 

Hogwarts October 4 1981

Harry sat down at his desk and started to read chapter 1, all thoughts of food forgotten.

=====

Harry had thought he understood how transfiguration worked but he didn't, not until now. But he wondered why mom and dad said transfiguration was one branch of magic that really did always require a wand. Sure a wand contains a core of some magical creature he thought, but I'm a magical creature myself. Ok, maybe it is impossible but I'm going to try anyway. I'll see if I can turn a match into a needle, that's the first thing they teach you in transfiguration class but I'll try it without a wand. At first nothing happened so Harry tried again, this time the match went silver. He tried a third time and found he was holding a perfectly ordinary needle. Well, Harry thought with a smile, if there's a second edition of mom and dad's book it's going to need some revisions.

OUCH! A minute gray owl was pecking at his shoulder, he recognized Pigwidgeon at once and knew the letter he carried had to have come from Ron. 

Harry- Hermione is fine and here at the Burrow. Every day mom asks Dumbledore if you can come too but he keeps saying not yet, but I think he'll say yes before the summer is over.

Your not going to believe this but Fred and George brought me to the best tailor in Diagon Alley and bought me the most expensive dress robe in the shop. I'm not kidding! I have no idea where they got the money I thought they were broke, all they'll say is that they're tired of having a kid brother who looks so shabby at fancy parties. I do know one thing, that stupid git Malfoy won't be laughing at my robes this year.

It's all over the wizard world but you're sort of cut off from news so you may not have heard that the day after we left school Fudge issued something called an emergency executive decree and fired Dumbledore as headmaster and put Lucius Malfoy in his place, but don't worry, it's only on parchment. Dumbledore is still at Hogwarts because the teachers are more important than Fudge and they say he's still headmaster, every one of the them still supports him. An hour after Fudge gave that stupid order dad resigned from the ministry and he was just the first, by now about half the ministry employees have quit in disgust. So far they haven't tried to use force to remove Dumbledore but if they do dad reckons that means civil war. He really hopes it doesn't come to that because we should be united now that you know who is back, but there is just no way Lucius Malfoy will ever be headmaster of Hogwarts.

Mom is mad at Percy because he didn't quit, he says he's for Dumbledore too and just wants to work for change from within the system but I think he's waiting to see which way the wind is blowing so he can jump on the winning side. 

Don't let the Dursleys get you down. RON

Harry went to his trunk and dug out The Marauder's Map, yes Ron was right, there was a little dot in his office that said Albus Dumbledore, a very reassuring little dot. It was easy to scan the rest of the map because there were no students at school this time of the year and he was pleased that Lucius Malfoy was not on the Hogwarts grounds. The dot appeared to be pacing, Dumbledore often did that when he was deep in thought. Harry wished the map could tell him what that wise wizard was thinking. 

======

Harry was in deep concentration when he turned the page of his parent's book, the rest of the world did not exist for him at that moment.

Oh good another one of those spells without wands, I want to learn as many of those as I can, I hate feeling helpless, I hated it when I was tied to that tombstone and could do nothing because I couldn't reach my wand, I never want to feel like that again, conjure fire into your bare hands, pretty cool, the only wizard I've ever seen do something like that is Professor Lupin on the first day I ever met him, I'll bet he learned how from mom and dad, come to think of it that invisibility without a cloak spell I learned last night is like the one Dumbledore told me he knew how to do when I was in the first year, I'll bet he learned how from mom and dad's book too, I'll give my cloak to Ron and Hermione I don't need it anymore, time to see what makes this fire spell tick, ok I understand that part, right, right, that makes sense, wait a minute why do they say.. ok now I see, and then you invert that then repeate this middle part again put that there then just cancel that out and it all should work, well lets give it a try.

Harry held up his index finger and a flame leapt from the tip.

Neat, the flame looks just as the book says it should, but actually the fire is really no better than what you'd get from a cigarette lighter, I wonder if I can do a little better, let me look at that spell again, hmm this part seems too convoluted to me, I'll bet the same thing could be accomplished more directly, yes that would be better, now there's room to do it twice and double the heat, no I can fit three of them in there, and there seems to be something working at cross purposes, I mean when you really think about it 95% of the heat you gain here you lose over there, that won't do, but if I just repeated that part again then turn it inside out the negative would change into a positive and everything would be pulling in the same direction and the problem would go away, and no point in doing this step here, it should be done at the very end because then you can eliminate all that useless overhead.

Harry tried again, a foot long white hot torch roared from his fingertip powerful enough to cut through the armor on a battleship. That's better Harry thought, then he turned the page only to discover with disappointment that he'd finished the book. 

Harry got up, stretched, and walked to the window, there was a violent thunder storm underway, there were deep puddles in the street so it must have been going on for a long time but he didn't remember when it started. He'd once played a Quidditch match in weather like this, it was the only time he ever lost, it seemed like a very long time ago. He wondered if he'd ever play Quidditch again, he vowed never return to Hogwarts if a Death Eater is headmaster.

Well, Harry thought, I've successfully performed every spell in mom and dad's book, except the one on Animagi, I might be able to do that too but I don't dare try, I'd need more space, a lot more space, I could try it when I go to Ron's house, the orchard might be big enough and it's well hidden from muggles, I hope Charlie will be there. 

Harry became aware of a pain in his stomach and at first thought he was sick but then realized he was hungry, ravenously hungry. As he headed for the kitchen he passed the Dursleys in the living room, the TV was turned up loud and they were watching a special report on the severe weather. They looked at him and then as usual became uncomfortable and quickly turned away pretending they hadn't seen him. It was almost noon but was so dark he had to turn on the lights in the kitchen to see what he was doing. He'd about eaten his fill of cold leftover spaghetti while standing over the sink when a huge clap of thunder shook the house. Apparently it didn't impress Dudley because Harry could hear him whine "Weather is boring, I want to watch the mega-mutilation festival, change the chan.." and then the TV went silent and so did Dudley. Any second now he expected to hear Dudley moaning that he was missing his favorite show, but he heard nothing from his cousin, in fact he heard nothing at all.

Puzzled he walked into the living room and was astounded to discover nobody there, the TV was still on but there was no sound or picture, a large dish of ice cream was on the table next to where Dudley was siting and steam was coming off the tea Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were drinking. Harry changed the channel on the TV while he mulled over the situation but couldn't find a signal anywhere. Harry couldn't imagine where the hell they went to so fast, they couldn't be upstairs, they would have had to walk right next to him in the kitchen, they must have made a sprint for the front door and dashed outside, it's a little odd that he didn't hear the door open but that's the only thing that makes sense, if you can call running outside in the middle of a thunderstorm sensible. He opened the front door and looked at the sky, he saw a featureless blue dome with not a cloud in the sky. How could a storm stop that suddenly? He thought of the eye of a hurricane but Briton doesn't get tropical storms, and that wouldn't explain why the ground was dry. The sun was bright, harsh, pitiless, and everything had the wrong hue, the colors were vivid but unhealthy like those you see under a brilliant mercury vapor street lamp. And then he heard something he had never heard before, absolute silence. There was not a breath of wind no rustle of leaves no sound of birds or insects or dogs or cars or people. Nothing. Harry drummed his fingers on the door just to be sure he hadn't gone deaf. Nobody is outside Harry thought and the unpleasant glare of that strange sunlight was hurting his eyes so he closed the door, but Harry was wrong somebody was outside. Just a few seconds later as he walked toward the living room he heard a powerful pounding on the door from the other side. His heart started to race, don't be stupid he told himself, Voldemort wouldn't knock, would he? Harry opened the door. 


	2. Childhood's End

**CHILDHOOD'S END  CHAPTER 2******

"It can't be!" gasped Harry in stunned disbelief "Mrs. Figg, is that really you?"

 "Some people call me by that name." Harry's old babysitter replied.

Mrs. Figg paused and then said "Well either use that wand or put it away, you look silly just holding it like that."

Harry realized he was griping his wand very tightly and pointing it at Mrs. Figg. "Oh, Sorry." He said and put the wand back in his pocket.

She slowly looked him over from head to toe and frowned "Are you OK Potter? You look like hell." 

"What?" said Harry his mind reeling "I mean yes, I'm fine."

"Then come along, we don't have all day." She said in a business like tone.

"You're a witch!" Harry gasped.

"A keen grasp of the obvious." She scoffed. 

"You're my secret keeper!" Harry continued.

It might have been his imagination but he thought she looked a bit startled, she was silent for several seconds and then for the first time in Harry's memory Mrs. Figg smiled. "Clever boy. Yes that's right, the Fidelius Charm is still the best way to protect somebody against Voldemort, provided you have a good secret keeper, and in your case you do."

Harry was impressed, she seemed to be one of the very few in the magical community who could speak Voldemort's name without flinching. She walked briskly into the house and started for Harry's room, she seemed to know exactly where it was.

"Well don't just stand there Potter; I'm not going to carry your trunk by myself."

"Wait!" said Harry "Where are we going?"

"The Burrow naturally," She said "Albus seems to think you may be down in the dumps for some reason or another and the Dursley house may not be the best place to cheer up. Mind you I don't have difficulty believing that last part, more tedious people I never met. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that about your relatives, I've always been too blunt; my dear mother scolded me for it when I was a child. Arabella, she said, if you can't be kind at least have the decency to be vague." Then she stopped half way up the stairs and looked at him "But if we're wrong and you'd rather stay here…"  

"No!" Harry yelled louder than he'd intended "I want to go." He said more softly "How are we going to get there, Apparate? I know how to do that now."

Mrs. Figg scowled "Potter I'm surprised at you, don't you have any sense of style? How can you even consider something as vulgar as Apparation when there is a beautiful brand new Bentley Turbo in the garage? Vernon Dursley is a thief, a bore, and is about as sharp as a beach ball but I have to admire his taste in automobiles… Sorry, I did it again; I guess I'd make a lousy diplomat"

As they struggled to load his trunk into the Bentley Harry said "I still don't understand, what happened to the storm, and where are the Dursleys?"

"Well," said Mrs. Figg "The Dursleys haven't gone anywhere, they're right where they always were, it's you who moved. It all involves how the Fidelius Charm works. You see, there are an infinite number of parallel worlds, some quite similar to the one you're familiar with and others very different, but only one of them has you in it; so when Voldemort comes looking for you he has only one chance in infinity of finding the right world, in other words zero chance. It follows that the safest way to transport you to the Burrow was to find a world that was identical to our own except there were no people in it, then you and I could temporarily enter it, drive to the Weasleys unobserved and unopposed, and then drop back in."

"But things aren't identical," Harry said "There is no storm."

"Why would I want to match that? I hate the rain, my leg has hurt me in bad weather ever since I was injured 4 years ago when Vo… , never mind, the point is there is no way I'm driving all the way there on wet roads and a high wind. Forget it."

"What about the light?" said Harry "Everything is too bright and the colors look weird."

"Ok OK."  Said Mrs. Figg defensively "So I got the sun's spectrum a teeny tiny bit wrong, so shoot me. Hey it was a rush job, Albus wanted it done like yesterday and the Fidelius Charm is by far the most difficult and complex one known. I'd like to see what anybody else would get if they tried to make a fine adjustment on such a spell with virtually no time to prepare it properly. Anyway the problem is easily rectified." She handed Harry a pair of sunglasses and put on some shades herself.

"Let's roll." She said.

"But why did you go to all that trouble over me and for such a long time?" Harry said "And why does Voldemort want to kill me so badly anyway?"

 "I don't suppose that," Mrs. Figg said changing the subject "You have the key to car do you?

"Oh no, I didn't think of that!" Harry said with a sinking feeling "I don't have the key and I don't know where Uncle Vernon keeps it either."

"No problem," she said looking at the ignition "Hmm, a standard 8 pin cylindrical locking mechanism, a piece of cake." She produced a paper clip from her pocket and seconds later the engine was going.

"Wow!" Harry said, he never thought he'd see the day when crazy old Mrs. Figg would expertly pick a lock even faster than Fred or George could. "Where did you learn how to do that?"  

"In my job you need to know how to do a lot of different things." She said as she slowly backed the car out of the garage.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is your job?"

"I thought that was obvious." She said "For the last 14 years my job was protecting you from Voldemort when you were at the Dursleys, or anywhere else except Hogwarts, Albus was in charge there. Your trip to the Quidditch World Cup last year caused me a lot of extra work I can tell you that; the security arrangements were a real headache."

"I didn't see any security arrangements." Harry said.

"Well of course you didn't," she said with a trace of pride "I'm a professional; you weren't supposed to see any. But I wasn't always in this line of work, before I got involved in all this cloak and dagger business I was the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts for 42 years." 

"42 years!" said Harry in something approaching awe "Lately we can't keep anyone at that job longer than one year."

"So I've heard," Said Mrs. Figg in a disapproving tone "And Professor Lupin was the only one that was any good. It's shocking how incompetent many modern teachers have become. I don't blame Albus, he hires the best people he can but today many of the most talented witches and wizards want to go into business not education. Moody, the real Moody, might work out, I hope so, but I'm not sure he's tough enough, he's never had to deal with a Category 1 dark wizard."

"What do you mean Category 1?" asked Harry.

"It's a measure of innate magical ability, the ultimate potential of any witch or wizard. It doesn't really tell you how powerful the individual is because that also depends on education which is obviously extremely important; nevertheless it's a useful scale for some purposes. About 5% are in Category 4 and are only a little more talented than Muggles, The vast majority, about 90%, are in Category 3, roughly 5% have much more ability and are in Category 2.  At last count only 11 people are in Category 1, some are dark wizards some are not. Albus is a Category 1, so is your Godfather and so am I."

"Voldemort must be a Category 1 too." Harry said.

"No." Mrs. Figg replied "He's beyond that, we need a new group for him, for want of a better name call it Category Zero." For some reason she seemed sad, she avoided his eyes when she said "On planet Earth at the present time only two human beings are in Category Zero."

Harry could not bring himself to ask the obvious question, he wasn't sure why but the idea frightened him; he didn't want to know for certain and he knew Mrs. Figg was grateful he didn't ask.

"I was wondering about something else," He said "When I was young you didn't act like you do now, you were sort of, ah, no offence but you seemed a little bit, well… odd. I guess that was all part of your cover. Right?"

"I don't know what you mean." She said rather quickly "You might want to put on your seat belt."

Harry was slammed back into his seat and in just a few seconds the car was traveling much faster than it had ever been when Vernon Dursley was the driver.

"The right front tire feels like it's a half pound over inflated but that's OK, I can compensate." Now that she was behind the wheel of a very powerful automobile Mrs. Figg had cheered up considerably "Ah, there is nothing more relaxing than taking a drive in a fine car on a beautiful day with no traffic."

"Yea, relaxing." Harry yelled over the roar of the engine. In truth Harry was not relaxed, he knew he must have gone as fast on his broom but this felt faster and was much more frightening because this time he was not in control, a frail looking old lady was. He didn't want her to know how scared he was so he tried to make some casual conversation.

"Since you worked at Hogwarts for so long I was wondering if… there's a curve coming up… big curve… it goes to the right… curve. CURVE!"

"I see it I see it." Mrs. Figg said calmly almost lazily "Don't be a backseat driver." She did not slow down. Harry was certain that at this speed there was no way the car could remain on the road, he braced himself for the inevitable crash but with skill that would make AJ Foyt or Richard Petty green with envy she maneuvered through the curve with ease. 

"I'm sorry." He said. He sat in silence as the car raced through a mercifully straight section of highway. His confidence gone Harry decided it was better to keep his mouth shut rather than risk making an even bigger fool of himself. After several minutes Mrs. Figg sensed his hesitant mood and said "You were going to ask me something."

"It wasn't anything important." Harry said.

"That's OK, people ask me unimportant questions every day," She said "I don't mind."

"Well" Harry said "I was just wondering since you worked at Hogwarts for such a long time if you knew my parents."

"I knew them very well," she said "They were my students and my friends; I consider that to be the highlight of my teaching career. They were brilliant, absolutely brilliant, both of them, and your parents were not only wonderful wizards they were wonderful people as well. Tom Riddle was my student too but needless to say I'm not proud of that fact. It's silly but sometimes I can't help but wonder if his decent was caused by something I did, or maybe something I didn't do but should have. I don't really think it was my fault, but sometimes late at night… but such thoughts are pointless." She sighed "I wish I could have taught you as well." She briefly took her eyes off the road and glanced at Harry "I know what you did last year Harry, your parents would have been very proud of you."

Harry though about that for a long time before he said anything, he thought about what he had done and compared it with what he wished he had done just as he had a thousand times before in the last month, but this time he imagined his parents judging him too; and It all started to fall in on him again.

"No they wouldn't" Harry said under his breath so softly he was surprised she heard him and embarrassed to discover tears rolling down his cheeks.  

"YES THEY WOULD!" Mrs. Figg insisted. She slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a halt. She looked him straight in the eye and said "Harry, tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing," Harry said as he tried to wipe his eyes on his robes as inconspicuously as possible, but the tears were coming faster than he could dry them "I'm fine."

"You're not fine." She said "Talk to me Harry." But Harry just shook his head and remained silent. "It's not your fault that Cedric is dead."

"He'd be alive today if I hadn't told him to take that stupid cup," He said "But it's not just that, it… oh forget it."

"Harry if you keep this bottled up it will destroy you, talk to me. Please!" She pleaded. 

Slowly and painfully Harry said "I hate it when people say I'm a hero because I know it's a big lie. The truth is I'm weak; I should never be trusted with anything important. Everything was different last year, I've been in danger before and I've even thought I was going to die before, but I never wanted to die before. When I received the Cruciatus Curse it hurt so bad I wanted to die, I really did. I never knew, I never dreamed anything that painful was even possible. If Voldemort had done it a few more times I don't think I… I don't think I could have stood it anymore. I think I.., I think I would have done anything just to get him to stop, anything, and that includes betraying Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, anybody, everybody."

"Harry," Mrs. Figg said earnestly "I want you to listen very closely. Look at me Harry, are you listening?"

Reluctantly Harry looked up "Yes," He said. 

"In my entire life" she said "I've received the Cruciatus Curse once, just once. I was about 10 years older than you are now and the dark wizard that attacked me was far less powerful than Voldemort, all Cruciatus Curses are not the same you know, the stronger the wizard the greater the agony, nevertheless I remember it like it was yesterday. The pain nearly drove me insane. I told the dark wizard everything I knew. Fortunately at the time I didn't now many secrets that would seriously harm our cause but if I did I would have told them. Afterwards nobody called me a coward because they knew they would have done much the same. Actually I did better than most; at least I didn't spend the rest of my life in St. Mungo's. I can't even begin to imagine what it would feel like to receive the Cruciatus Curse from the most powerful dark wizard in a thousand years; and when he did it to you I'm quite sure he was not pulling any punches as he sometimes does when he doesn't want to permanently derange one of his followers. Yet you received it twice and still had the strength to overcome the Imperious Curse, it is absolutely mind boggling, unprecedented. Voldemort must have been humiliated and probably a bit frightened at your toughness, I know for a fact from intelligence reports that the Death Eaters were. We live in a crazy world Harry and sometimes it seems like no good deed goes unpunished, but the craziest thing of all is that you're the one doing the punishing. Harry it's ridiculous, you're holding yourself up to impossibly high standards, you've done as much as any human being can and a hell of a lot more than I would have thought credible. So stop beating up on yourself, that's an order! OK?"

Then in a soft voice and a twinkle in her eye she said "Otherwise floggings will continue until morale improves."   

In spite of himself Harry smiled a little and said "Ok." 

"Good," She said "Here eat this, you'll feel better."

For some reason Harry almost laughed when he looked at the Chocolate Frog; and she was right, he did feel a little better.

"You're a real mess you know that," she said pushing his bangs out of his eyes "When was the last time you had any sleep?"

"It's been a while," Harry admitted "Hermione sent me a real interesting book on Monday morning and I sort of forgot to go to bed last night," He looked at his watch "Gee, I guess it's been 36 hours."

"Monday?" said Mrs. Figg with a frown "Harry, you've been awake since Monday?"

"Yea," He said "I wanted to finish the book; I guess I got a little carried away."

"Harry," she said gently "This is Thursday."

"No," He said "No, that can't be, it's Tuesday."

"Harry," she said "I can assure you today is Thursday. You've been awake for 84 hours."

"Thursday?" Harry said in a confused voice "But…but," He wondered how long he really had been reading his parents book, it didn't seem long at all but …

"Harry!" Mrs. Figg said almost in a panic "Have you been using invigorate charms?"

"Ah, well, sort of, yes a little." Harry confessed sheepishly.

"Damn! Harry you've got to stop that!" she said in an apprehensive manner "You're going to burn yourself out! You're too important for that sort of nonsense."

"I just wanted to finish the book and not waste time." He said

"Harry, wasting time is an important part of living," She said "Especially when you're only 15. You shouldn't be robbed of your childhood."

"But I had so much to do," He protested. 

"Good" she said with a smile "I think you will find there is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it." Then she looked at him closely and put her hand on his shoulder "But not wanting to waste time isn't the real reason you're afraid to sleep is it? Harry I know you must have been having bad dreams, but stopping yourself from sleeping is not the way to prevent them; we'll find a better way, I promise." Then more to herself than to Harry she said "Oh boy oh boy, kiddo I need to get you to a nice cozy warm bed pronto!" 

She stomped down on the accelerator and they were off again. After a few minutes she said "We're coming up to Ottery St. Catchpole, it's time to reenter, you may feel a slight bump." Harry felt himself go weightless as the car fell several feet down onto wet asphalt, he heard a huge crash that sounded like thunder and then the rain started coming down in buckets. As the car slowed he smiled as the Burrow came into view. They must have been alerted somehow of his arrival because he immediately spotted Hermione and all the Weasleys except Ginny and Percy standing on the front lawn holding umbrellas and waiting to greet him. He was glad to see that Charlie was home because he wanted to talk to him. Then Harry noticed a gorgeous young lady also holding an umbrella and he wondered who she was until with a shock he realized it was Ginny, it was amazing, she looked…different. The car had almost come to a stop when Harry said "Ah, Mrs. Figg, you're not going to tell Ron are you?"

Mrs. Figg seemed puzzled "Tell Ron What?"

"Well… you know," Harry stammered "Ron's my best friend; I don't want him to think I'm…some sort of a crybaby… or something."

Mrs. Figg smiled warmly and said "Oh Harry of course I won't tell Ron, not ever."

Harry grinned and said "Thanks." 

"Get some sleep Harry." She said "I'll be seeing you again soon." 

"You're leaving?" He said "I was hoping you would stay a while."

"I'm sorry Harry I can't." She said "I've got to get back straight away, Albus and I have something we need to attend to, a little, ah, errand."

He had never heard anybody speak about Professor Dumbledore in quite such a familiar fashion before. He had to ask "Do you know Professor Dumbledore well?"

Mrs. Figg appeared surprised at Harry's question "I should hope so; we've been married for 84 years and have 6 kids."    


End file.
